Most who know me would say that I am a pretty good cook. When they inevitably ask how I learned, my stock answer is “from my mom…indirectly.”
You see, I didn’t really cook much growing up. About the only thing I can remember making was the occasional bacon double cheeseburger on the grill in the summer when I was a teenager. My brother and I would refer to my operation as “Fitzgerald King”.
After college, when I was living in a crappy apartment in the suburbs of Boston, I realized I was on the hook for feeding myself. After a few weeks, takeout pizza was getting old, simple pasta was getting boring, and supermarket TV dinners weren’t quite cutting it. I was getting nostalgic for the food I grew up with. I needed to learn how to cook.
I figured a cookbook was a logical place to start. I browsed Amazon and Mark Bittman’s book “How to Cook Everything
” seemed to be the most popular and well-reviewed general purpose cookbook. So I ordered it.
It was exactly what I needed to get started. It’s a comprehensive book, and it emphasizes good technique (make sure the pan is hot before cooking) and it focuses on simplicity in recipes without being too dull. It taught me how easy it is to make pesto, for example. It was a good buy, and I still refer to it quite often. The jacket cover now has a large burn mark from accidentally being left on a hot electric burner several years ago. Coincidentally, it was my first Amazon.com purchase.
I complimented this book learning by watching a lot of the Food Network. I didn’t really use the recipes but the shows gave me inspiration and reinforced the importance of technique and good ingredients. Mario Batali’s “Molto Mario”, Ming Tsai’s “East Meets West”, and especially Alton Brown’s “Good Eats” quickly became favorites. I liked Emeril too.
For the most part, I was successful on my own with these resources. Once you learn the basics, cooking isn’t really that hard. But occasionally, in the early goings, I’d run into trouble. I remember calling my mom and asking whether a clove of garlic was “just a part or the whole thing”. I assumed it was the whole thing – I am glad I asked.
My wonderful coworker Dale was also a great help. The first time a recipe called for “bay leaves”, I left the supermarket frustrated that the produce section didn’t seem to have them. The next day, she kindly informed me that the spice section would be a more fruitful place to look. Dale, coincidentally, is one of the few people who has made a lasagna on par with my mom or my grandmom’s.
And this gets me back to my original point, that I learned to cook from my mom. I am sure I took it for granted at the time, but my mom is a great cook, and it left an indelible mark on me as to what constitutes good food. As a result, when I was learning how to cook, I think I cared a lot more about “doing things right” and living up to a high standard.
Since then, I’ve picked up a few more books, developed a somewhat unholy devotion to Cook’s Illustrated and the America’s Test Kitchen PBS show, and have a number of friends who also like to cook. But I think the core of my culinary foundation is having been raised in a family who appreciated good food. And for that, I can’t be more thankful.
My friends Matt and Cori recently had their first kid, a beautiful girl named Layla. To ease their ordeal into parenthood, I made a large batch of a chicken and red pepper dish, which was one of my favorites growing up and which was one of the first recipes I asked my mom for when I was first learning how to cook. A few people have asked me for the recipe over the years. When Matt recently did as well, I figured it was time I publish it here.
So, without further ado, I present “Janet’s Chicken and Red Peppers”.
Thanks for teaching me how to cook, Mom!
Janet’s Chicken and Red Peppers (or Chicken Valerio)
* 1 1/4 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into approx. 3/4″ strips (cut long pieces in half)
* 2 red peppers, cut into approx. 3/4″ strips
* 1/2 stick butter
* 3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press
* 3/4 cup heavy cream (substitute half/half or milk if you like)
* 1/4 cup italian parsley, chopped
* 1 cup grated parmesan cheese (the real stuff, Parmigiano-Reggiano)
* Olive Oil
* Salt
* Fresh ground black pepper
1) Heat 1 TB olive oil in a 12″ skillet on medium heat until shimmering. Add red peppers with salt and ground pepper and saute until cooked and slightly browned. Remove peppers from pan and set aside, leaving oil in pan.
2) Season chicken with salt and and ground pepper and saute in pan over medium heat, adding additional olive oil if necessary. Cook chicken until brown on both sides but leave slightly underdone.
3) Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium low heat until melted and slightly browned. Add minced garlic and stir and cook until fragrant, about 30-60 seconds. Do not burn the garlic.
4) Add the cream to the pan, and stir to mix in the butter and garlic mixture. Cook until mixture is warmed, about 2-3 minutes.
5) Add in the grated parmesan cheese, about a 1/4 cup at a time, and stir until it is melted into the sauce. Repeat for the rest of the parmesan cheese.
6) Add the cooked peppers back to the skillet with the chicken. Stir in the parmesan cream sauce, scraping the bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook for about 2-3 minutes or until the peppers are reheated and the chicken is fully cooked (no pink on the inside).
7) Stir in the parsley and adjust the seasoning of the salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a good, crusty bread and something green.
